


You Took My Heart (And Planted Roots)

by Mimozka



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Coming of Age, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humour, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, next gen fic, trigger warning: discussion of dead parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 08:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12384750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimozka/pseuds/Mimozka
Summary: Who knew that one punch would lead to the rest of their lives? (Spoilers for Arrow 6x01 if you haven’t seen it yet)





	You Took My Heart (And Planted Roots)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [felicityollies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/felicityollies/gifts), [muslimsmoak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/muslimsmoak/gifts).



> For the sake of the story let's please pretend that ice hockey works in the way that I've described in the story because I'm too sick to care about proper research right now.

His foot fidgets as he tries to make himself more comfortable on the familiar red bench in front of the principal’s office. He’s pretty sure he can expect Oliver to come over to pick him up. He’s even more sure that there is a solid chance for him to get suspended from school. Especially after the warning the principal gave him the previous time.

So far every time he threw a punch, Will felt anything but satisfaction. The most prominent feeling to wash over him after a fight would be shame. Because his mother taught him better than that. He can’t help but wonder what she would say at the sight of his black eye or the streak of yellow and purple across his jaw.  She would no doubt look at him in that way that makes him wish the ground could swallow him up. If he closes his eyes he can just about see her, too.

Only difference is, this time he is not ashamed of his actions. They weren’t driven by that anger that won’t let him go and has his guts in a vice grip. They weren’t driven by his wondering of whether now that his mom is gone anyone cares about him. This time, Will got into a fight because of something his… Oliver did. He’s seen Oliver fight injustice over the months he’s lived with him. Will may not like the ways Oliver goes about it, he may not like Oliver’s green alter-ego, but he has to admit it’s effective.

The funny thing is, the day didn’t even start out as the type of day that would lead to a fight. Especially not with Russel Whitehall, one grade above Will, and about twice as large. It happened quickly - one moment Will was walking down the hallway to his next class, and the next he hears Whitehall shout some racist slur towards the new girl. It’s after that that Will slams into Whitehall, his anger only multiplied by the fact that no one else made so much as an attempt to stand up for the girl.

Naturally, as per Will’s shitty luck, a teacher shows up just as they hit the ground. Unfortunately for Will, he manages to separate them only after Whitehall hit him in retaliation. Of course, Whitehall got of scot-free, since pretty much every person in the crowd confirmed that Will started it. No one was willing to go against the Chief Bully, especially not for the Mayor’s bastard kid.

He hoped the girl will be okay. He didn’t get to ask before he was sent to the principal’s office.

To Will’s surprise it’s not Oliver who shows up, but rather Felicity. Honestly, he isn’t sure if that’s better or worse. On one hand, he wouldn’t have to go through awkward silent car rides home with his father’s disappointed expression, but on the other, the look Felicity gave him reminded him too much of his mom’s.

For the most part him and Felicity got along like they’ve known each other their whole lives and Will was glad his story isn’t going to follow the “stepmother” trope. Then again, the levels of comfort he felt around Felicity (and how could he not, she was so openly affectionate with him, and considerate) made him freeze. Because sometimes he felt towards her similar affection that he does towards his mother. That’s normally when he pulls away, afraid to forget and replace his mom somehow. She deserves to be remembered and there’s no one else to remember her like he can and should.

Turns out his hunch is right and he does get suspended for the rest of the week, as Felicity informs him on the way home. She also explains why she came to get him and how Oliver couldn’t get out a meeting in City Hall. Will appreciates a lot her not referring to him as his dad. He can’t quite wrap his head around it yet.

* * *

 

Will sneaks off one weekend, early enough for Raisa not to have gotten there and for Oliver and Felicity not to be up yet. He knows it’s stupid of him to do so, because they’ve told him many times that they will gladly take him there, but it feels awkward to go visit his mom’s grave with Oliver and Felicity. They didn’t know her. Not like Will did.

So he sneaks out of the apartment and changes two buses before he reaches the gate of Starling Memorial Park. He should have brought flowers with him but nothing is open on a Saturday at the literally crack of dawn. Will’s kind of surprised he managed to find public transport.

He passes by another couple of people, possibly father and daughter from the looks of it. He’s glad they have his back to him, he doesn’t feel like explaining what a 12-year-old kid is doing in a cemetery all by himself. He also doesn’t notice the girl’s head turning towards him at the sound of his steps.

Will doesn’t know how much time he spends sitting on the damp grass in front of his mother’s headstone - it could have been minutes or even hours.

“Kid?” he hears a familiar male voice call behind him.

Reluctantly, Will turns, letting his past fade to the background again.

Turns out that he does know the man. He works for Oliver.

“What are you doing here at this hour?” the man asks again.

It takes him a moment, but eventually Will recalls who he is. Rene Ramirez.

The man doesn’t seem to expect a reply because he’s asking him another question.

“Does Boss know you’re here?”

All Will can do is shrug silently, which seems to satisfy the man.

“I can drive you back if you want?” Mr Ramirez offers.

Will’s jeans are all wet from sitting on the ground and a gust of cold spring wind has him taking Rene up on his offer.

It’s only once he’s up to his feet that he notices the girl. It’s the new girl from his school. All he can manage is the tiniest of smiles and then he averts his eyes to his feet, unsure of what to do or say, especially after he catches her returning his smile.

If her father notices the air thicken with awkwardness, he, thankfully, doesn’t comment on it.

“Will, Zoe. Zoe, Will.” is all he says as ways of introducing them before leading them both towards his car.

Thankfully, he arrives home just before Oliver and Felicity come downstairs and he just tells them he was on the balcony.

* * *

 

Will is sulking in the car, which for once, is not city-owned. They are driving Felicity’s car down to what used to be Oliver’s old mayoral election office. He remembers the place vaguely since he’s only been there once. His mom took him there after the first kidnapping ordeal and asked him to wait in the lobby for a moment. He now realizes she probably went to see Oliver.

The place is obviously deserted and has been out of use for a while, as Will can see clearly when they pull up next to the red brick building. Felicity and Oliver usher him inside quickly just as the sun disappears behind the horizon.

He isn’t happy when they tell him he’ll have to go with them to Green Arrow’s HQ. He doesn’t want anything to do with that guy (yes, even though that guy was Oliver). And yet a part of him can understand their hesitance to leave him home by himself, given his history of getting kidnapped by the city’s annual resident psycho. So with both Raisa and Aunt Thea being unavailable to watch him, he has no choice but to follow his guardians.

He is just about to ask Oliver if he was okay, because the man has been fiddling with the wall for a few moments now, but just as he is about to do so the wall opens in a straight up Disney-style way. He’s a bit speechless, because regardless his reservations a secret elevator in the wall is super cool.

He has to bite his lip to keep from gasping at the sight of HQ, or The Bunker, as everyone around him seem to call it. He’s not calling it that though, it’s silly. There are so many gadgets, weapons, and lights, Will feels like he stepped into one of the comicbooks he likes to read. Only somehow the secret lairs there pale in comparison to this one.

“You know, Oliver and I designed the place ourselves, with some help from our friend Cisco in Central City,” Felicity tells him, patting him on the shoulder. “I’m glad you approve.”

It’s only then that Will realizes his astonishment must have been written all over his face. Oh well. When it’s cool it’s cool and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Oliver ruffles his head quickly and leaves him with Felicity with a quick ‘see you later, buddy,’. He can see Digg, Dinah and, to Will’s surprise, Rene hunched over several computer screens.

He lets Felicity lead him to a back area of the lair without protest. It looks like a break room of sorts, with a coffee table and sofas. On one of those sofas is a girl about his age whose hair currently obscures her face. She seems pretty absorbed in whatever it is she’s watching on her phone.

“You can stay here with Zoe while we take care of things,” Felicity tells him.

The girl looks up at the sound of her name and Will wants to laugh. Of course it would be New Girl. He seems to run into her everywhere lately.

“Hi,” he waves at her.

“What’s up, Will?” she asks and waves right back, her phone temporarily forgotten.

“You guys know each other?” The way Felicity’s eyebrow hikes up is almost comical.

Will hesitates before answering her, knowing he would have to come clean about lying to her and Oliver about that Saturday morning.

“Will and I have a couple of classes together,” Zoe says before Will can formulate a response.

Technically, it’s true, what she says, no matter that they haven’t really interacted with each other before today. It doesn’t seem to matter though, not to Felicity, because she smiles at both of them and tells them to have fun and let her know if they need anything before she walks away towards the other adults.

Once she’s gone it gets awkward again, at least for Will. He’s not really sure how he should act around Zoe, or girls in general. She looks so serious and mature, and Will feels a bit stupid next to her for still being into comicbooks and action figures.

He comes to sit on the other side of the sofa and pulls his Flash backpack to him so he could take out his book. He sneaks a glance at Zoe as he pulls it out and thankfully, she’s gone back to whatever she was watching before.

They sit in silence for a while before Zoe gets up to get a drink and asks Will if he wants anything. He declines, even though he’s a bit thirsty. One glance towards Felicity lets him know that things are intense right now and he doesn’t want to bother her.

Zoe comes back a couple moments later with two bottles of water and places one on the table in front of him.

“In case you change your mind,” she tells him and sits back down.

“Thank you,” Will says, just before she presses play on her phone again.

“Sure,” Zoe shrugs.

But Will suddenly realizes that there’s more to it, and maybe it’s his own genetics or simply he’s been hanging around Felicity for too long, but he just keeps talking.

“No, I meant, for not telling Felicity about the cemetery,” Will says quietly. “I didn’t exactly tell them where I was,”

Zoe puts down her phone and turns to face him and turns slightly to face him.

“I figured, been there done that,” Zoe shrugs, but Will hears no judgment in her voice.

There is a beat of silence before them before Zoe speaks again.

“I’m sorry about your mom, Will, I know exactly how much this sucks,” Zoe says and it dawns on Will who her and Mr Ramirez were visiting that Saturday morning.

“Thanks,” Will murmurs, feeling as if someone sliced him open at the open mention of his mom. He’s on the beach on the Island all over again.

“Zoe?” he calls out as soon as he has his bearings together, “I’m sorry about your mom, too,” he says as soon as she looks up.

She gives him a sad smile that feels very familiar to Will, one not unsimilar to the one he’s worn for several months now.

“Does it get easier?” the words come spilling out of his mouth before he even fully thought them through.

Zoe sobers up immediately at his question and Will feels the need to apologize. He didn’t mean to make her uncomfortable with his question, but he is the only person he knows who gets it. This question has been bothering him for a while now.

“No,” Zoe says flatly, “You won’t miss her any less. I was 11 when my mom was killed and I miss her just as much now as I did at her funeral.”

Will feels like someone tied an anchor to his lungs and let it drop into an abyss. He isn’t sure he could live with this pain for the rest of his life.

“I’m sorry I upset you, I didn’t mean it,” Will says as soon as he notices the glistening tears that pool in Zoe’s eyes.

Zoe uses her sleeve to wipe them away and does the last thing Will expects - she smiles at him.

“It’s okay, it’s nice to talk about it with someone who gets it,” somehow Zoe voices Will’s exact thoughts from a few moments before. “If you ever need to talk about your mom…”

Her offer to him hangs unfinished, but Will doesn’t need her to put words into it because he understands exactly what she has in mind.

“You too,” he replies.

They talk more after that night. They walk together to class and sometimes even go to school and back home together. Some nights they both have to spend time in the Bunker again. They go from strangers to friends and the journey seems just about effortless.

It turns out that as intimidated as Will was by her Zoe is actually pretty cool. She likes sports and videogames and she definitely shares his taste in burgers. They argue about who’s better, whether it’s Team Arrow or Team Flash on a family dinner, completely disregarding the fact that both teams are present. Will can’t let go of his childhood hero and argues for the sake of superpowers, whereas Zoe fiercely defends team Arrow and says that they are better exactly because, with the exception of Dinah, none of them have powers.

“Superpowers is like using cheats,” she concludes. “Sorry, Dee,” she adds, grinning at Dinah whose only reply is to laugh.

Her arguments earn her an extra piece of dessert from her dad. Will is just about to complain when Iris sneaks him one too, and ruffles his hair affectionately.

Sometimes he catches Felicity, Dinah, and Aunt Thea whisper and giggle while looking at their direction and he nudges Zoe to ask her if she has any idea what this is about. They reach the conclusion that grown ups are weird.

Life gets better when he has a friend by his side. He still misses his old friends in Central City, even though sometimes it feels to him that his life there is another universe entirely. It’s not until many years later that Will would realize just how pivotal a moment befriending Zoe was for him.

They bicker and argue, they keep each other company because they understand each other’s loneliness. They help each other out because they know what’s it’s like to have no one. They share their mutual heartache for what was, what could have been and their fears of what’s to come. She agrees to read his favourite books and he decides to try out hockey.

Will notices that Zoe starts to smile more and with her smiles come his own.

* * *

 

They’re fifteen when Zoe gets her driver’s permit and Will fails his first test. She likes to brag about it and poke fun at him, but at the same time she helps him study. It’s why he doesn’t take it personally when she teases him about it.

His mom’s parents buy him a car in honour of him being old enough to drive. It doesn’t really sit well with Oliver and Felicity who think he’s a bit young for a car, but they don’t voice their discontent to Will’s grandparents. They know the elderly couple comes from a good place and they respect that. At least that’s what they tell Will when they sit him down to explain the situation. They ask him not to drive the car until he gets his license.

Will can’t say he’s happy about it since he’s been looking forward to driving for a while now. In all honesty he could call his dad out on his hypocrisy about driving without a license because he’s had ample opportunity over the years to hear of his father’s shenanigans before he was marooned on the Island, mostly from the mouths of paparazzi trying to get a rise out of him. But he shuts the idea down as soon as it comes up in his mind, because he knows how ashamed his father is of those actions. He knows he is no longer that man and that his worst nightmare (his dad’s own words) would be for Will to follow in those footsteps.

They had that talk last year when his dad gave him “The Talk”. Awkwardness aside, Will appreciated the honesty and promised to return it. His dad promised him that he would be free to explore whatever he wishes, as long as Will is being responsible about it.

But just because he can’t drive the car, doesn’t mean he can’t use it. He talked to Felicity about this one night - how he wanted to let Zoe use the car so she could get some practice driving. He knew Rene couldn’t afford to buy her one, so he figured that would be the next best thing.

Zoe didn’t take the news of his decision well at first. Even gave him the cold shoulder for a while, which made family dinners quite awkward. It all came to an end on a day they were both stuck babysitting Will’s little sister Miriam as well as JJ and baby Sara, while the adults were busy bringing down a ring of criminals.

By the end of his part-apology, part-explanation, Zoe got up and kissed him on the cheek.

“You’re a good guy,” she’d proclaimed and then turned her attention to baby Sara.

Will’s cheek tingled where Zoe’s lips had touched it for a good 5 minutes afterwards.

Which brings him to the situation he is now - riding shotgun with Zoe Ramirez maneuvering her way around town and on their way to their favourite establishment - Big Belly Burger.

“You know,” Will said, reclining his seat backwards, “I could get used to this personal chauffeur thing, although I don’t know how this female driver thing will work out.”

His statement was met by the car swerving violently and forcing Will to brace himself against the door.

“Damn Zo, are you trying to get us killed?” Will exclaimed. “Dad would murder me if you got a ticket,”

Zoe sent him a quick glare as soon as they’d stopped at a red light.

“That’s what you get for being a sexist jerk, doofus,” she told him.

Thankfully, the ride to Big Belly passed without any other attempts at revenge killings on Zoe’s part and Will got back into her good graces by treating her to her favourite combo menu.

* * *

 

It’s their junior year of highschool and junior prom is just around the corner. They both hope they could get out of it, but that hope dies as soon as Felicity learns about it and spreads the word to Thea. Soon enough Aunt Thea takes them both shopping for dance-material clothes and Felicity arranges dance lessons with his dad (because yes, over the years that man morphed from a stranger to a friend to a father).

The dance lessons prove to be as hilarious as they are awkward, usually his father practices with Zoe and Will practices with Felicity (who currently waddles more than she dances thanks to Will’s soon-to-be little sister). It becomes awkward when his dad has Will practice his steps with Zoe as he demonstrates how they are done with Felicity.

He’s taller than her now, a fact he loves teasing her with, but it feels weird to have her so close. He can see the tiny freckles on her neck and he can smell the faint scent of citrus shampoo when her ponytail swishes next to his nose during a spin. He doesn’t look her in the eyes much because he finds them prettier than usual and he’s not used to it.

He has no idea what it all means so he decides to keep it to himself until he figures it out.

They both don’t talk about the upcoming dance once the mandatory week of dance lessons is over. That is not until Zoe brings it up one day as they walk towards their respective locker rooms after hockey practice. It’s quick and simple how they decide to go together. As friends. And even though he doesn’t really want to go, he doesn’t have the heart to refuse her. Zoe’s been denied a lot of things in her life, Will refuses to add to them.

It’s super weird knocking on the Ramirez’s door on the night of the dance. Will’s already uncomfortable enough because he feels like the tie Aunt Thea forced on him and the shoes Felicity picked out are trying to kill him. His hands are sweating and he feels so stupid as he wipes them on his jeans.

He’s known Zoe for ages, there’s no reason for him to feel like that. They’ve been through hell and back, both together and on their own, and a silly dance should not inspire such dread in him as it currently does.

The door opens and Mr Ramirez is standing in front of him. When did he become Mr Ramirez instead of just “Rene”? - Good thing Zoe couldn’t read his thoughts because she might suffocate from excessive laughter at the thought of anyone referring to her dad as Mr Ramirez.

“You planning to spend the night outside Arrow Jr?” he asks Will with a smirk.

Will rolls his eyes at the nickname. Years ago he would have sulked about it for the rest of the night, but now he’s just used to it. Once Rene gave you a nickname there was hardly any chance of it to be dropped. Usually it stuck and eventually got spread between the rest of the family. Will’s only source of comfort was that both JJ and Zoe (and now his little sister and baby Sara) suffered the same fate.

“I was early,” Will says, and the feeling of nervousness amplifies tenfold.

Rene laughs and ushers him in, “Didn’t get that from your dad, that’s for sure,”

Will steps into the familiar apartment, where he spent a good chunk of the past several years. He knows the place as well as he does his own home, only this time he doesn’t make himself at home. Maybe it’s the occasion he’s here, all formal and what not.

He waves at Dinah who appears from what he’s sure is Zoe’s room. He could never quite define what these two are to each other, but either way he’s glad Zoe has some like Dinah to lean on. She grins that sly, knowing, grin of hers when she sees him and suddenly he feels self conscious.

“Nice tie, kid,” she remarks and goes to sit on the sofa while they wait for Zoe to come out of her room.

They don’t wait long for her to appear and when she does Will feels his mouth go a little dry because she is beautiful. More so than he’s used to thinking. She’s wearing a puffy dress in teal and her leather jacket over it, along with her new combat boots and her favourite necklace. Will’s sure they all have other proper names, but even if he knew them he couldn’t come up with them at the moment. Her hair is done in an elaborate braid and when she comes closer he can barely tell she’s wearing make up.

Their eyes meet and Zoe lets out a snort as she check’s him out.

“Did you and the gossip squad do this?” She turns to ask Dinah who looks just as amused as she did moments ago. Rene, sitting next to her, is smiling, too.

The Gossip Squad is what him and Zoe took to calling Dinah, Felicity, and Thea who always seemed to be giggling and whispering around them and on occasion even taking pictures. If Will and Zoe didn’t know them as well, they would have come off as super creepy.

“Maybe,” Dinah shrugs nonchalantly and winks at Zoe.

“Do what?” Will asks, and he can’t help the edge of panic to his voice. He’s been around to see these three make people shake in their boots and cry.

Zoe turned to him then and places her hand on his tie.

“We match,” she replies and pulls on his tie to bring it closer to her dress, which inevitably pulls him closer to her.

He really likes the smell of her perfume.

She lets go and takes his hand instead, to pull him towards the door.

“Bye guys,” she calls out as they walk.

“Wait!” Dinah calls out behind them and Will thinks he knows exactly why.

They turn to face Dinah and surprise, surprise, she’s dangling a camera in front of them.

“I promised Oliver pictures,” Dinah says with a smirk and readies the camera.

“But he already took - “ Will doesn’t get to finish his complaints when the flash goes off.

“How about you look like you’re having fun?” Rene asks beside Dinah and Will can tell he’s doing a bad job of disguising his amusement.

Will and Zoe indulge them for a little bit, but Zoe puts a stop to it when Dinah starts coming up with more elaborate picture set-ups.

“Have fun on your date,” Dinah tells them, “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Rene grimaces behind her, “There’s not much you wouldn’t do,” he points out.

“Oh, relax, Lassie, they’re good kids,”

Will and Zoe get out of there before Rene and Dinah get into a fully fledged argument. When these two fight, it always ends in some kind of casualties and Dinah threatening to scream.

It doesn’t take them long to reach the ballroom intended for the dance and it doesn’t fail to hit every checkbox on the “Cliche” list. From too many balloons, to smoke machines, to weirdly tasting drinks at the catering table and even as far as a freaking disco ball.

It takes Will and Zoe exactly about 90 minutes and three dances, as well as running into their exes at the snacks table, to figure out that they’ve had enough of this dance.

They leave the dance together and get into Zoe’s brand new car. They end up driving to Starling Middle School. Where they met all those years ago. Will raises an eyebrow at her choice of destination only to have Zoe shrug.

“Guess I’m feeling nostalgic tonight,” is all she offers.

“Nostalgic for being a lonely messed up kid?” Will asks.

“No, although I’ll say we turned out normal, given everything,” she says with a small smile.

“I don’t know, Zo, I wouldn’t call your enjoyment of bashing people into the ice rink barriers normal,” Will teases her.

Zoe’s response is to smack him in the chest. “You’d better watch it, pretty boy, because Mayor’s son or not, I will bash you into the barrier next time,” she threatens.

Will laughs at her threat, “No you won’t, it’ll get you banned for the rest of the game,”

“Oh, shut up!” Zoe exclaims, but her eyes are shining with amusement, so Will knows she only pretends to be annoyed.

“Make me,” he challenges her.

Will knows she will rise to the challenge but even so he never so it coming. One moment she’s in front of him, and the other there’s warm lips against his. They’re moving, his are not. He’s not sure he’s even breathing. He feels Zoe start to pull away and hurries to dissuade any doubts she may have as to his inaction.

Zoe Ramirez is kissing him and he’ll be damned twice over if he doesn’t kiss her back.

And so he does.

By the end of it they’re both giggling, breathless, messes and they both wonder what the hell took them so long.

* * *

 

Senior year passes in a blur between preparing to take their final exams, deciding on colleges they’d like to attend, Zoe’s hockey matches, and of course the two of them trying to figure out their new status as something more than friends.

Honestly, it doesn’t feel that different to Will. They still do everything they used to do before there are just some added perks now that he quite likes having if he’s honest. For example, he can take her hand when he drives, she can kiss away that spot of ketchup from when he eats fries. They make out in the car, in an nearly empty movie theater and yeah sure, they even risked it a couple of times in the bunker when the team was out and Felicity volunteered to go get food once they promised they’d watch the monitors for her.

It’s easily the best year of his life and the most anxiety-inducing, too, because time flies when you’re having fun and the nearer they get to summer vacation, the more nervous Will became. Especially after Zoe got discovered by this Canadian hockey scout and earned herself a university scholarship in Toronto and Will has already gotten accepted into Star City’s firefighter program.

Breaking the news to his parents was fun. They took it as well as he expected, but to their credit, they accepted his decision as soon as he explained why. He decided to become a firefighter because he wanted to help people. His family and extended family inspired it in him. But he settled on firefighting in particular because of that day. The day the island blew up. There was all that fire and there was nothing he could do at the time. He never wanted to feel this helpless against fire again, and what a better way of giving it the proverbial middle finger than to doze it until it dies.

Meanwhile, he knows just how much hockey means to Zoe and especially how much the opportunity to go to university, that she wouldn’t have to pay for, means to her. So despite the fact that he wants nothing more than to be with her, he knows it wouldn’t be fair of him to ask him to stay. Likewise, she knows why he’s doing the firefighter thing and he is certain she won’t ask him to go with her.

They have to follow their own paths and if it’s meant to be, their paths will cross once again. He looks at his dad and Felicity, he looks at John and Lyla, Paul and Curtis . Sara and Nyssa (when they visit) and he knows the story behind each member of his family. There isn’t a doubt in his mind about them loving each other. Yet neither of their stories worked out the first time around. The secret to them being where they are now is that despite everything they didn’t give up on each other. They kept trying until they made it work.

And if there is one thing William Clayton-Queen knows for certain it’s that come hell or high water he will never, ever, give up on Zoe Ramirez.


End file.
